MTMTE - Testimony
by Aerisnoir
Summary: [MTMTE, AU-ish] Starscream testifies. Megatron listens.


_[MTMTE, AU-ish] Starscream testifies. Megatron listens._

**Spoiler warning!**  
**This is related to events in the More Than Meets The Eye comic. Issue 29 to be precise. Read at your own discretion.**

On a different side-note: I am a huge fan to the IDW RID and MTMTE story arcs. They are pure gold (and filled with feels! Oh, the feels...)  
So I consider myself extremely lucky to, after reading MTMTE #29, have gotten so inspired that this little thing practically wrote itself. We don't know the full details of what is going on yet, so this is an AU-ish one-shot. But I hope you like it.

* * *

[Testimony]

* * *

Oh, how infuriating it was.

To have worked. No. _Toiled._ For ages had he toiled, leading his troops across planet, across space, in a bid for something better. For something grander. For equality among all.  
For Freedom. Pure freedom.  
When one leads a revolution, one cannot choose their soldiers. His army was the army of the oppressed, of the deceived. From a deluded medic whose dreams had been shattered by a dim committee to a criminal mass-murderer' whose court evidence was just a tad too convenient to not be planted to a brilliant tactician sentenced to lifelong work in the mines because his altmode happened to be a drilltank. They demanded their dues paid, their revenge given, their lives bettered. At the end of the day, each one of these mechs carried a fury and a thirst for freedom that swept like a wildfire.

You can't control fire.  
You. Cannot. Control. Fire.  
Megatron had always realized that.  
You can only direct the fire in a general direction.

And so Megatron had. With an iron fist and a legendary cruelty he had given direction to the wildfire that was his army, tightening his grip and displaying his ruthlessness for all to see as he needed to control the worst offenders in his pack.

He had reigned.  
And now, he listened.  
He listened to his ex-lieutenant. Oh, how he had gotten that mech to scream to the stars, to use the red and white and blue mech's own words. How he screamed to the stars when Megatron shoved him down to his place time after time, when he reigned in that brazen ambition to lead before any ounce of wisdom had developed. Every well placed jab and punch and blast earned a suitable reaction of submission. But the fire always kept burning in those ruby-red optics. The arrogance and boldness never dissipated. It was what made Starscream so dangerous. So unmatched in his fighting prowess. It was why Megatron allowed him to lead fractions of his army, completely aware of the fact that he gave a certain degree of freedom to a double-edged sword.

But he had always been able to deflect any blows headed his way. If Starscream tried to defy him head on? Megatron's words carried a far greater punch. If Starscream spun his web of deceit out of the warlord's sight, Megatron had a million optics all eager to report the failure's antics back to him. Megatron was the lion in its prime. Starscream nothing but a cowering hyena biting at the tuft of his tail.  
He had deigned the jet to pass him only to grimace at the way the brazen mech fell flat on his face. Starscream's greatest enemy was his own hubris, and it was embarrassing to see the seeker grind his reputation within the Decepticon ranks to a dust so fine that it dimmed everything pertaining him.  
Starscream was a true deceiver and excelled at manipulation. But it matters little; one cannot build on dust.

And now, Starscream called himself Emperor, chosen by the people of Cybertron.  
What did it say about a population if one considers their choice of leadership?

Only time would tell whether Starscream's reign could even approximate that of Megatron. Whether he would surpass the 'Grey Tyrant', or whether he would turn away from anything he learned as a Decepticon and rule in an entirely different way.  
Only time would tell what Starscream would accomplish.

But what did time tell him, Megatron, if at the end of his campaign the mech standing there giving testimony to court was the very mech who had practiced undermining him for as long as the war had lasted. What did time tell if in the end Starscream, who manipulated the masses and thought only of his own gain at expense of the whole, seemed _victorious_?

"Bedeviled by fundamental weakness of character, hindered by a frighteningly average intellect, and cursed with an ambition that far outstripped his ability, he failed **spectacularly**. He doesn't deserve death. He deserves **pity**."

Megatron did not allow his face to show anything as Starscream spoke those words. He wouldn't merit the seeker with a reaction. He kept watching calmly as the seeker spoke, that silly crown glittering in the lights of the courtroom. A shiny crown worn by a mech with a reputation of dust.

How long would the seeker have longed to speak words that used to be directed at him?  
How often had he practiced this scenario in his mind?  
Where did this event lie in the blueprint of Starscream's ambitions?  
It didn't matter.

Starscream never **learned**.

* * *

_Author's note:  
When the entire court room testimony thing went down, it just felt as if Starscream tried to reverse their role. To speak about Megatron like Megatron often spoke about Starscream._  
_'Screamer has been called lacking in his intelligence often enough. He has been called out on his personality (his character) and he ultimately suffers from his ambition (to rule) while he lacks the proper ability to do so. He earned his title because Bumblebee's reputation with the NAILs was devastatingly low and Metalhawk... well. You can't vote for a dead mech and Metalhawk was already severely weakened to not even count as a worthy fight-to-the-death. But nothing within Starscream was particularly noteworthy: he just didn't have any real competition. _

_And finally: if there is a mech who manages to __**fail in spectacular fashion**__, then it is Starscream._


End file.
